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I have never gotten around to making my pace count video, but we teach that a lot, and I've always taught (as I have myself) that you should allow the compass guy to do that alone, pace is done by someone else. Such nerds for this, we got tired of the current hobby beads breaking, made our own pace beads of indestructible materials: centralwar.com/events/Purchase-IndividualFieldGear.shtml But of course, it's more important to keep pace than have specific gear, so pebbles, knots or whatever you have will do.

If you scroll through the totally unorganized comments, you'll see a longer discussion, but yes old tritium works. The 12.3 year thing is half life, not life. So half as bright every 12ish years. Since they come WAY too bright, 24 year old tritium is just fine for deeply dark nights. 36 years old is getting a bit dim, but luckily someone stole that compass so I have a newer ~20 year old one I use now! Yup, wish we had radium-like sources. Not sure what the nomenclature was, but before the compass I outline in this video the US used a series of marching compasses with round capsules that opened in a similar manner and... did nothing else the same. Not many of those around, and the ones that look the same are mostly awful chinese knockoffs, so beware your sentimentiality.

The compass cover has a printed stamp inside, the first number is the year. Just bought one on Ebay for $50, like new, Cammenga H3 Tritium, came with a green soft case too! Mine, stamped 20, means 2020, second number is the month, third is a production number. Very happy! I can tell, it's an HQ compass! Military has the best and most durable stuff available!

I have zero concerns about ruggedness, like freezing, for any remotely quality compass. The USGI compass is only really something I suggest for people doing lots of work at night (unlikely for you), or for consistency in training etc. if a soldier/Marine/etc. It is big, and heavy, so I wouldn't want to add that much for a through hike. Also: it's old technology, and isn't even sealed! It can get damp inside and fog up. I have an overview of compass buying here kzfaq.info/get/bejne/ac6cZqp11MuyoYE.html and the same in text here: centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/buying-compass.html (and, the principles of having a backup, and a buying guide for them: centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/backup-compasses.html) There's also a discussion of a downside to the USGI lensatic which ended up with some specific models to consider otherwise: facebook.com/CentralWar/posts/1969134610041483

Mr. Hoober: Thanks! I will go with my Silva Ranger515 as I have that now. When and if i need a new one I'll apply your advice and principles. Thanks a million. -SunnyWalker

Good point. I have never seen any instruction on using the Brunton Pocket Transit in any way. Have one and just packed it for an upcoming trip, but I just sort of figured it out. Googling that term instead of M2 compass results in... a YT video: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/i96lla-Zl7jTo6c.html Haven't watched fully, but it's apparently got a lot of features and capabilities I didn't know, so will have to check out sometime.

Naw... they are all just different. It is hard to get good baseplate or mirror compasses now (stupid profit reasons, mergers, etc) but good ones are excellent. And, mil issue in most countries. I even just got sent a snazzy compass cover for a Silva tritium I own, from a friend in Australia :) But I use my MC-1 the most still. Though I fear eventually the tritium will die, then I'll go back to the Cammenga because they still make them the old way, and apparently always will! Now, if I could just get Cammenga to make their tritium wrist compass reliable. Lost one because the child tossed it across the room, broke apart and never the same afterwards. The replacement freezes up when it gets too cold! I love having something I can rapidly refer to (esp in the dense country we get around here, or in urban areas, indoors, so you don't get twisted around) then go to the big one for planning. But... haven't found one I totally trust as yet.

@@4ourthmobile433 cammengas are just so bullet proof.

With math. There is no dial to set declination, you just have to account for it in each measurement.

+CincyRedsFan 513 Mostly, we're making mistakes constantly. You look at the compass, walk a bit, look, etc. You make little mistakes in taking your quick bearings and in walking, but they should even out over time. But if you mess up once bigger than the others Two other things make this not as huge a deal usually: 1) Understandings of precision is important. Ideally, you are walking 5 or 10 or 50 miles on the same basic heading, so any one small mistake is very, very, very tiny in the overall scheme. 2) Terrain association. If you were moving to a saddle, say, and you are off by 50 meters from the center when you get there, you'll notice and fix it when you get there. Now if you KNOW you have to get off the track, like because there's a clear obstacle, you box it off. Using pace count and your compass, go around in a clearly measured way. Walk (for example) 100 m due N, then back on your bearing till clear of the obstacle, then 100 m due S. You are still on track!

The compass body is dark, but the dial is white, and properly exposed using the white background.

MATH! The USGI compass has no declination setting dial, you have to add/subtract for each measurement. On NGA maps (US Government mil-issue ones) it has a chart that gives you this math. Here in one other video I do a bit of an overview of how that works, and show off where you find it: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fpqDfrhjldy6fGQ.html Other maps should have the declination change and you just have to work that out yourself. If declination is a big deal (lots of variation in your region), if high precision is needed, or you are going a long ways with few features to adjust for based on terrain association, you can give yourself a reminder, do the declination "once" by drawing M-N (magnetic north) lines on the map then work off those instead of the G-N lines. Only works for azimuth, for route planning, not for MGRS grid references, but it works.

no. It's Jeff Goldblum

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Jeff goldblum is an animal

Nope. The theory, I believe, is that combined with the maps it's a whole system. There's a declination chart at the bottom of each (US issue) map, with instructions on what to add or remove to get to each version of north you might need. If you had adjustable declination, the compass could be adjusted wrong, without you noticing, so this is supposed to be accident-proof. It's a choice, and one of any reasons why some people may like, or hate, this compass.

@@StevenHoober thanks for the quick and knowledgeable reply. I can see your point with map use. I would guess you just have to be careful if you are transferring baring from the map to compass or would any math be unnecessary if you align the compass properly to the map?

@@m005kennedy IF an adjustable-declination compass is properly dialed for location: no more math. But they can be risky not just for people who move to different regions but in certain far-north locales where you can walk over a period of a few days and have a notable change, or it changes a degree every few years, there's a risk you forget to change, and start heading the wrong angle. Non-dialable compasses means doing math every single time, so if important (trackless desert, artillery calls...) it's worth double checking - yourself or comparing with someone else doing the same calculation in parallel.

There are many, many compasses, and lots of knockoffs of this particular model. Without seeing I couldn't guess more.

Ahh ok thanks yea it kinda does seem like a knock off its a bit cheaply made thanks for replying so fast its very appreciated

Camster V if it is black I have the same and it is a knock off, but it works well.

Yes, the USGI lensatic is a global compass, with no need to buy regionally balanced versions. If buying another compass, be aware of regions, and that it's not just north and south, but there are up to 5 regions depending on the maker. I summarize a lot of attributes of buying a compass here: centralwargaming.blogspot.com/2017/08/buying-compass.html

+Aron Silb Not much I know. Not really a collector. Kiffe is older stuff. Company was a general maker of outdoors stuff from the late 1800s through the 1960s at least. In the 60s, they dealt in surplus then made (had made, in Japan: the China of the 60s) a series of cheapish knockoffs of mostly knives like military bayonets. Also made some Boy Scout targeted stuff like a cheap lensatic compass. If in good shape, cheap then is mid quality now, so it may work. But there are so many decent compasses these days, I wouldn't bother using such a thing for actual navigation or anything.

+Steven Hoober actually it's in excellent shape I'm pretty sure it was either surplus or actually used in combat

Until you can't get a aignal that is

Perhaps is the lens actually a prism? Flip down prisms (called - brace yourself! - prismatic compasses) are a thing used by other armies, and a few nice ones are still made today for maritime and expedition work. The theory then is that you can look forward, get the sighting point and read the azimuth in the same plane, vs the "glance down" style of the lensatic. If you really get into it, minor advantages, but good ones are hard to find. I am still sad/angry a friend who purged all his outdoorsy gear sold both his (expensive and hard to find here) Silva Expedition 54s for not very much on eBay instead of to me! Do share the link. Which model did you get exactly?

@@StevenHooberNot on mine. Mine is a lens pointed directly at the dial?

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0140X8OVO/

@@seprishere Awww, was hoping it was something cool you have over there, but it's the standard Chinese consumer prismatic available (in bulk) as low as USD2 each. Check regularly to make sure it points north. Have had a few in classes and more often than not, they are not just a little sticky, leak water, etc. but actively do not work, and point fairly not north. I am not quite sure if these are trying to be a copy of something specific, but a good prismatic is the Francis Barker M-88, actually still used by some British Forces types (they come in MILS, so I assume as you said: artillery spotters and the like). Not at all cheap, but they do make a tritium illuminated one... I can't get. If you find one, send it to me :)

@@seprishere Funny they still sell them generally as "prismatic" compasses, though I was wondering based on the layout if that was a lens. Interesting. May have to actually try looking through it next time someone brings one... when we have classes again you know.

None. They use the other way to dampen the needle, magnetic dampening. The needle moves through an internal magnetic field, which has somewhat the same effect as a liquid but doesn't leak out or get air bubbles.

+Nicky Valiente Summary: mentalfloss.com/article/17586/why-cell-phones-make-speakers-go-blip-blip-blip-buzz so search more if you are a bigger electronics nerd and want to eliminate it. TL;DR it's from mobile phones, and some signals are at a frequency that is in the audible range so if interference occurs on the audio system (headset wires, speakers, mics), you can hear it clearly.

usually a cell phone close to a speaker & getting ready to ring...in my experience that is...

Both. Indicates self-luminous vs glow-in-the-dark (light it up first) but also allows you to be worried about any safety of use (not really, VERY little tritium, wrong type of radiation to harm you, but militaries are big on health-and-safety checks), as well as being segregated from certain disposal, distribution, destruction, etc.

Only the uninformed say it lasts 10 years. It has a 10 year half life. So, half power, and so on for eternity. 10-20 year old compasses are perfect. New ones are way too bright to actually use.

Probably does not have a HazMat symbol (which doesn't exist?) but the radiation trefoil. They all have that. Tritium is just H^3, so that's often a shorthand. That's pretty old, so probably has no detectable glow anymore, but it may be a record for age of compasses with tritium I have heard of anyone actually owning. Cool stuff.

Unless someone scrubbed it off or painted the compass, there's a stamp on the inside of the lid in usually black ink with the date code. That code is (usually) year then month. The last number is a lot which is meaningless to us, so just ignore it.

Steven Hoober thanks for the reply. My grandpa gave it to me 25+!years ago and no markings anywhere. Directions say engineer, printed in Japan and the compass itself dial says “valor”

@@s1l3ntopus Ah, then it's not a "Lensatic" in this context meaning a USGI made by Cammenga, but something else. The "Valor" (I am sure that's a brand for US market distribution, not the real manufacturer name) seem okay but are consumer market compasses with IME plastic cases, so may not be as sturdy as the real thing at all. They are sort of a combination of a various european 19th century marching compasses and the USGI style, but aren't truly knockoffs of the USGI Cammenga, missing several features. The same design (maybe even the same old molds!) is made in China now, mostly extremely poorly.

Steven Hoober sorry for my ignorance but the model is lensatic and maker is cammenga? All I have is super thin instructions, blue cloth bag and compass itself, just trying to date the compass Is all, I was very young and don’t remember my age. My grandpa served ww2

@@s1l3ntopus Cammenga is the maker of the USGI lensatic as shown in my video. Your Valor is a consumer market compass that emulates the US (and european) "marching compasses." It is certainly post-war, and may have been bought by your Grandfather to emulate what he used in the war, but is not that old or actually issue.

LMFAO!!!!! LOL LOL LOL 😂 😂 😂 😂

What do mean? If that it stops before the lesson is done: there was a limit on KZfaq length when I posted it. Note there's a part 2: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/gJt3fqqimJ2dqHk.html

It’s not very strong.